I think that's a looooong stretch at this point in the season. During the races and in qualifying, Pastor has shown himself to be just average. He also is usually the first one to bin it in practice. If there's a car off track at any point in the weekend, there is a good chance it's Pastor.

I also think that Maldonado is doing better than Hulkenberg. At this stage last season Hulkenberg was still usually qualifying 3-5 tenths slower than Barrichello. Maldonado has proven that on pace he is already almost a match for his team-mate.

Hulk crashed a lot in the first hald of last year, too. He was much slower than Pastor, though.

Williams 2011 is a much worse car than last years, so you can't expect Pastor to do well on races. The car have tech problems very oftenly and also has bad race pace.

Hulk had some crashes but many of them weren't his fault, like that one in Australia. The only serious mistake in the first half of the season which i have remembered was his spin in Bahrain. Pastor are definetely making much more mistakes in free practises but he isn't as bad when it comes to qualifying or race.

Williams 2010 was also poor car at the start of the season, but more luck than this year allowed the team to score few points. FW32 started to be quite competitive since Valencia (9th race of the season), but it still hadn't excellent race pace, pretty simillar to 2011 car.

Although I think Pastor may be decent driver when he get some more experience, I don't expect he is the same or more potential than younger Hulk. Nico was brilliant at his 3rd race of his career, being about 0.5 second faster than Rubens throughout the weekend in Malaysia. He was faster almost in every session in every conditions there: in practises, in wet qualifying and in dry race. And he scored point despite not so good race pace that FW32 had at that moment, issue with steering in his car and pit stop which was about 10 seconds longer than it should. He also did a brilliant lap at the start of Q1 in Barcelona, which was as fast as Ferrari's, Red Bull's and McLaren's drivers at that moment. The track was getting more rubbered and faster, so many drivers beat that time, but not Rubens, who failed to get into Q2 (it shows how bad that car was). Pastor hadn't shown simillar signs of promise, yet. He is consistently much slower than Rubens, especially in terms of race pace. Hulk also was much slower many times, but he was challenging Rubens more often. And I think Rubinho did better job in 2010 than he is doing now.Of course I don't write off Pastor yet, it's interesting to see how he will perform to the end of the season. I would like to see that he is very good, as I'm more Williams supporter than Hulk or anybody else supporter, and I had liked Pastor earlier, before he joined Williams. But all things considered, I'm still convinced that Hulk would have done better job than anyone else who was possible to replace him in this season in Williams. If Pastor will score more points than Rubens in second half of the season, like Hulk did, then I will probably agree that he is at least comparable with Nico. I wish Pastor all the best and I hope he will peform well and help Williams to recover from driving near to back of the grid.

Free practice is the place a rookie should be crashing, learning the limits of the car and the track. Too early to judge this guy for me plus it's hard to pay attention to the rookies closely this year what with the terrible direction on the feeds and the mountains of overtakes and action all over the track, I'm barely keeping up with the front runners.

Pastor has been on it this weekend. Credit to him. However, I think to compare him favourably to the Hulk is a step too far.

Hulkenberg rarely got near Barrichello until the second half of last year. Maldonado is already his team-mate's equal in pace. What more does he have to do to gain approval? I bet that if he had no sponsorship behind him, people would be praising him left, right and centre.

Hulkenberg rarely got near Barrichello until the second half of last year. Maldonado is already his team-mate's equal in pace. What more does he have to do to gain approval? I bet that if he had no sponsorship behind him, people would be praising him left, right and centre.

What? Maldonado is usually being chased by Lotuses in the race. And I don't mean the black ones.

Maldonado has always been stunningly quick in Monaco, today just confirmed that and I think that's a clear indication of a driver's talent since Monaco is a driver's track. But to conclude that he is better than Hülkenberg is a completely different matter. They were driving different cars in different situations and Hülkenberg is younger as Maldonado and beat Maldonado in GP2. I think Maldonado is very talented and deserves to be in F1 but Hülkenberg is a bit more talented and maybe even a potential world champion in the future.

Maldonado has always been stunningly quick in Monaco, today just confirmed that and I think that's a clear indication of a driver's talent since Monaco is a driver's track. But to conclude that he is better than Hülkenberg is a completely different matter. They were driving different cars in different situations and Hülkenberg is younger as Maldonado and beat Maldonado in GP2. I think Maldonado is very talented and deserves to be in F1 but Hülkenberg is a bit more talented and maybe even a potential world champion in the future.

I haven't concluded that he is better, but just that Maldonado has impressed me more so far this year than Hulkenberg did last year.

Anyone who thinks he's just a paydriver is out of his/her mind. Yes, he got that seat because he brings a huge amount of money to the table but the kid can drive as well. As I said in another thread, Hulkenberg was average to say the least when he started out at Williams, retiring three times and scoring only one point in the first half of the season. If Williams sort their car out like they did last year I can see him getting quite a few points finishes.

The Williams is much worse than last year and the Lotus is much better. Also, I remember Hulkenberg fighting with Lotuses in Bahrain and being beaten by them in China.

Lotus isn't much better. It isn't even a little better. Last year their's best time in Monaco Q was 3,268 seconds slower than pole position, this year it was 3,787 seconds. Last year in Barcelona it was 4,679 seconds, this year it was 4,893. It doesn't say everything but it seems that Team Lotus hasn't improved since last year.Also Williams isn't much worse than at the start of the last year. 2010 start was also disaster for Williams, although they had a little more luck and scored few points, mainly thanks to not so bad performance in Australia, where Hulk couldn't show anything in the race as he was hit by Kobayashi at 1st lap. This year Williams's Barcelona best lap was 1,873 seconds worse than pole position, last year it was 2,136, so it shows that FW32 wasn't clear step above FW33 in terms of speed.Hulk was beaten by Lotus in China as team decided to change tyres for him on slicks exactly when it started to rain more. That's why he lost much time.

Hulkenberg rarely got near Barrichello until the second half of last year. Maldonado is already his team-mate's equal in pace. What more does he have to do to gain approval? I bet that if he had no sponsorship behind him, people would be praising him left, right and centre.

Maldonado proved nothing more than that he can beat Barrichello in Monaco, which is known as his best circuit. Hulk did extactly the same last year in Malaysia(which isn't known as his best circuit). In other races in 2011 Pastor was consistently much slower than Rubens, apart from Barcelona, where Barrichello wasn't able to do his best due to issues in his car. And Hulk also beat Rubens in Barcelona quali in 2010. What is more, I think that Rubens was doing clearly better job last year. He is quite old for an F1 driver and that's the age when reflex, stamina and some other important skills are getting worse year by year. Last year he had impressed me some great performances in poor car. This year he hadn't.

Maldonado did a great job in Monaco but it's still definetely too early to say that he is better than Hulk. If he will be able to repeat that kind of performance in most of other races, I will change my mind, but time will show. And you should remember that there was much more pressure on Hulk, as he had to proved that he is worth a seat for 2011. It's believed that Pastor is a part of long-term deal between Williams and PDVSA, so he seems to be safe and hasn't so much pressure on him. Pressure certainly doesn't help a rookie, as there are still many things which you have to learn in your first year in Formula1 as a racing driver. Especially, it doesn't help to be consistent. Hulk wasn't, but he has shown many signs of big promise. I still consider him as a huge-talented driver and I believe that he will shine when he get a right seat at the right time and some time that will allow to unlock his big potential.

And trust me, I would prefer to believe that Pastor is better than Nico, as he is driving Williams at the moment, while Hulk isn't. But it's beyond me and I always wanted to be objective and fair. I don't say Pastor is bad, it seems he isn't, but he has to show more if he wants to prove he is better than Hulk. I don't claim that he won't show, but he hasn't shown, yet.

Impression is the thing which has a great influence on people's opinion. But impression isn't the same as fact and it's a trap not to believe your own impressions so much if you couldn't prove that they're right.

"I saw the guys for sure, but I cannot lose four seconds every time," he told Williams's official podcast.

"I think in the past it's always been the same for everybody, even when I get the Virgin cars or the Hispania cars, I'm always losing time. This is part of the job, especially when you're fighting for the points. In that moment, I was fighting with Alguersuari, so it was a difficult decision.

"I'm really disappointed because it's the first time this year that they've done that. For me, it's completely wrong."

Another proof this guy is an idiot. He has shown it in WSbR, in GP2 and now he is showing the same in F1. After his racing with Lewis after chequered flag at Spa, now he says he can't lose time while being lapped, because he is fighting with another car . What a shame he was allowed to race in Belgium...

Another proof this guy is an idiot. He has shown it in WSbR, in GP2 and now he is showing the same in F1. After his racing with Lewis after chequered flag at Spa, now he says he can't lose time while being lapped, because he is fighting with another car . What a shame he was allowed to race in Belgium...

He has speed, but boy oh boy, he is a moron.

All drivers are running their own races, they can't sacrifice it to make life easy for the front runners. Put Hamilton or Vettel or the like in a backmarking car at one of the hardest tracks to get out of the way on and see how they like it. And it's nice to see a driver sticking up for himself instead of all the PR talk.

Another proof this guy is an idiot. He has shown it in WSbR, in GP2 and now he is showing the same in F1. After his racing with Lewis after chequered flag at Spa, now he says he can't lose time while being lapped, because he is fighting with another car . What a shame he was allowed to race in Belgium...

All drivers are running their own races, they can't sacrifice it to make life easy for the front runners. Put Hamilton or Vettel or the like in a backmarking car at one of the hardest tracks to get out of the way on and see how they like it. And it's nice to see a driver sticking up for himself instead of all the PR talk.

Yes, with a long lap, two whopping straights and a wide S1 and S2, its so hard to get out of the way.

Oh, and Vettel was lapped several times through 2007, 2008; Lewis in 2009. They know how to deal with it.

All drivers are running their own races, they can't sacrifice it to make life easy for the front runners. Put Hamilton or Vettel or the like in a backmarking car at one of the hardest tracks to get out of the way on and see how they like it. And it's nice to see a driver sticking up for himself instead of all the PR talk.

Hamilton and Vettel do just fine being lapped (unbelievably...). Maldonado is just trying to cover his own idiocy. He'd only just come out of his drive-through for ignoring blue flags when he blocked Webber. If I was the steward and saw that, he'd have been black-flagged, because clearly he didn't learn a thing.

Dan Ricciardo spent ages tucked up behind Liuzzi when he was much faster. I couldn't understand why for a couple of laps until I realised that he kept having to move for the front-runners. He got out of the way quickly and sensibly and didn't seem to have a problem - and when he got in front of Liuzzi he ended up spanking him by over twenty seconds - and making one extra stop! So it doesn't automatically "ruin your race" if you give way.

The guy is a nutter, either consumed by the pressure environment of f1 or just naturally nutter. As a racing driver, you would think there's plenty to enjoy about being in the sport, but with the competition of seats, and with such a competitive field of top drivers, Pastor seems to be a driver who wants to keep a drive and I think the occassion and weekends get to him more then he admits.

I think people's opinion of Maldonado has been clouded by the incessant editorials in the specialist press labelling him a pay driver. I'm afraid a driver from South America is going to face obstacles in the sport if he's not from the perceived european heartland. There's no doubt that Venezuelan backing has opened doors that would otherwise have been shut but I have yet to see anything that he does not desrve a chance. He's shown himself to be quick, fearless and will not be intimidated and I have yet to come across a rookie driver who did not make mistakes.

I think people's opinion of Maldonado has been clouded by the incessant editorials in the specialist press labelling him a pay driver. I'm afraid a driver from South America is going to face obstacles in the sport if he's not from the perceived european heartland. There's no doubt that Venezuelan backing has opened doors that would otherwise have been shut but I have yet to see anything that he does not desrve a chance. He's shown himself to be quick, fearless and will not be intimidated and I have yet to come across a rookie driver who did not make mistakes.

Senna was a case in point. I would direct you towards Tom Rubuython's book "The life of Senna"; he struggled to find funding for his first season of British F3, he even moved back to Brasil and considered quitting.

He is a nutter. A fast nutter nonetheless!! And he's improving his consistency. Soon he'll be a fast consistent nutter.

The nutter part is not going away though. Not necessarily a bad thing.

F1 is not about being nice boy, that is great as a person characteristic but F1 only requires that a driver is fast enough and Pastor has proven to be. Kimi will have a hard time next year, at least in qualifyings I reckon.

F1 is not about being nice boy, that is great as a person characteristic but F1 only requires that a driver is fast enough and Pastor has proven to be. Kimi will have a hard time next year, at least in qualifyings I reckon.

Of course he drives fast enough, but it would be good to be able to work out that losing 4s letting cars through is better than losing 20s from a penalty. He lost the 20s but still thought it was better to try the same thing to save the 4s loss - not very smart.

Of course he drives fast enough, but it would be good to be able to work out that losing 4s letting cars through is better than losing 20s from a penalty. He lost the 20s but still thought it was better to try the same thing to save the 4s loss - not very smart.

I don't if it is a question rather Pastor was smart or not, I suppose he merely thought it wasn't unfair to do so and to receive a penalty.

Kimi will have a hard time next year, at least in qualifyings I reckon.

The two drivers they have now are poor, plain and simple. I suspect Williams know this now as one of the reasons why they've performed poorly. Yes, the car hasn't developed as it should have done which is part of it, but when you look at it you can see no reason why they should be 36 points behind anyone else.

Eh, haters gonna hate. I think Maldonado's been very good all things considered this year, not brilliant and not flawless but his F1 career isn't even a season old and he's gotten visibly better as the year's gone on. Bring on 2012, if the car is as good or better I expect him to nick a few points here and there.

Pastor appears to be not very smart, but he is a decent driver having won the GP2 2010 championship. Therefore he is not just a pay driver. I think he has never got over what happened at Monaco and things might have been very different in terms of his mood and confidence had that not happened. I am sure that he will do better in 2012 with a better car. Aero has been a weak area at Williams and the absence of blown diffusers next year will suit/help them. Kimi will pick up the general mood too. If Kimi does not sign, I would put Vallteri Bottas in with him. He is at least cheap and the current GP3 champ so not slow. Rubens has lost his mojo and should retire.